The Tundra Tsi252™ is a secondary side power controller. It provides a large degree of control and monitoring capability for power supplies found in numerous communication, server, or storage systems. It greatly simplifies the design of a power system for systems that require multiple power supplies.

The Tsi252 provides completely programmable power management functions for up to six non-isolated DC-DC converters. Start-up sequencing, time-based thresholds, delays, over voltage, under voltage, and card keying parameters are all programmable. Non-volatile fault logging allows customers to read power system parameters from a standard two wire I2C interface. The Tsi252 can also be cascaded to manage up to 18 power supplies.

The Tsi252 is easily configured via Power Center Designer, a GUI based tool that programs limits, timers, sequencing data. Configuration of the Tsi252 is stored in an internal non-volatile EEPROM which can be programmed either through a I²C Interface or the JTAG port according to the customer’s manufacturing preference. If required, parameters can be changed during operation using the Tsi252 registers.

Business Benefits

Integration

The Tsi252 provides the ability to monitor a number of power parameters and control them, which has never been possible before. Start-up thresholds and delays, interlock thresholds, over and under voltage, sequencing of multiple power rails, card keying, controlling things like fan speed are all programmable. In the event of a fault, the number and timing for automatic retries are also programmable. If the fault is permanent (unrecoverable error), for example a power supply is bad, then a signal can be sent across the isolation barrier to shut the primary power down.

Ease of System Design

Before this kind of secondary side power controller existed, the nature of power system design meant specialized design experts were needed to create custom analog circuits and program microcontrollers. Now anyone familiar with digital design can create a first time right sophisticated power system on their card. Changes are now as easy as uploading a new program created in PowerCenter Designer to the controller via its JTAG or I2C port. In the past this would have meant changing components on an assembled card.

Easy Fault Diagnosis

The non-volatile fault log means that the condition that caused a problem can be found quickly and simply. This can simplify repair and reduce the number of no-fault found incidents.

Note: This part was formerly marketed by Potentia Semiconductor Corporation as the PS-2610.